Food Ads Under Attack Again: New Survey Says Kids Think “Fat-Free” and “Diet” Are Synonymous with “Nutritious”

Philip Stone June 27, 2005

As the food industry globally works on self-regulations in advertising various fatty or salty foods to the under 12s, a new survey has come along suggesting certain buzz words like “fat-free” and “diet” need to be fully explained, or not used, since kids equate those words with healthy foods.

A University of Illinois (US) study of 134 children 5 to 7 years suggested that labels leave a false impression with kids. “When they were presented with choices like Diet Coke versus orange juice and fat-free ice cream versus cottage cheese, they were more likely top pick the wrong answer,” according to researcher Kristen Harrison.

The food industry on both sides of Atlantic has embarked on major self-regulatory campaigns to clean up their acts and this new research should surely enter the debate on what is advertised, and the labels used for such advertising. 

New television advertising tends to promote healthy lifestyles, and ads for products carrying excessive sugar or salt are now steered away from children’s programming. The industry hopes that self-regulation will keep the government regulators at bay and stop campaigns in several countries to prohibit food advertising aimed at children.

According to the European Commission (EC), the number of overweight school children in the European Union (EU) is increasing by about 400,000 per year with about 25% of all children too fat. More than 200 million European adults are said to be overweight or obese. Obesity counts for between 2% to 8% of all healthcare costs. The EU has told the food industry to come up with its self-regulatory rules by 2006, or the EU will impose its own.

And, it seems, its not just food advertising that children need to be protected from. Even the staid BBC got it wrong in its advertising trailer for its Wimbledon coverage that started this week and it had to apologize.

In the advert tennis ball smashes into a woman player and she explodes into tiny fragments, and 140 complaints suggested this was something not really for the eyes of children. The BBC responded by removing the trailer from children’s programs or those programs in which 10% or more of the audience were children.

“The trailer was not intended to offend or upset anyone and we apologize that it has offended some viewers. The image of the player shattering is meant to look like china shattering in a delicate way. By showing that one player has broken it implies the other is the winner.”

In other words, the idea was to show that a tournament like Wimbledon makes or breaks players! You think the kids got that?

And next you may want to ask yourself why would such a household name as Procter & Gamble be running an ad during children’s programs with the locale being Amsterdam’s Red Light District, even featuring a woman wearing suspenders!

The commercial, for Bounty Glass and Surfaces, showed two bearded men dressed as women cleaning “Europe’s filthiest windows.”

Ten people complained to the UK Advertising Standards Authority. P&G claimed the kids wouldn’t understand the ads anyway. Maybe they’re intended for Mom watching with the kids and she would understand!

While accepting the ad was tongue-in-cheek and not really going to cause widespread offense, ASA pointed out its code does not permit even mildly sexual content in and around children’s programs and that since the subject matter included a prostitute the ad placement was inappropriate.

On a more serious note, UK parents and teachers are launching a drive for Parliament to urge cable TV channels to voluntarily stop carrying financial advertising between their cartoon programs because such ads seem to be teaching children that being in debt is ok and normal.

Martin Lewis, who is leading the campaign, told the Sunday Herald newspaper in Glasgow, “Our poll shows children are increasingly responding to a parent’s refusal to buy something by quoting a slogan or telephone number from a TV loan advert.”

Viewing panels said that in two hours of watching cartoon shows on cable television, they counted between 12-15 credit ads. There is a firm belief the credit companies are targeting parents through their children — aiming for the so-called “pester power” of children.

The organizers say if the cable channels don’t stop the financial advertising – which is said to be quite lucrative and important to the channels bottom line – then they will consider calling a boycott of the channels and their advertisers.

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